April showers bring...new artists! We’re delighted to introduce Leah Giberson, the artist behind today’s release, Floral Shade. This color-packed piece is soaked in suburban nostalgia, reminding us how good it feels to park on the sidelines of a soccer game in the sun, or sit out in the backyard on warm nights, cooling our heels ‘til the stars come out.
Floral Shade by Leah Giberson
10"x8" ($24) | 14"x11" ($60) | 20"x16" ($240) | 40"x30" ($2,400)
Leah Giberson’s interest in empty lawn chairs is almost archaeological in nature—she’s drawn to them as if they were abandoned ruins. There are tales told in the empty spaces, evidence of bonds formed and conversations had. Looking at the pair of chairs in Floral Shade, one might imagine breaking out this set for the first use of the season, maybe filling their hollows with a grown-up and a little one sitting side-by-side on a gorgeous spring day.
Though Giberson’s paintings in this series are fetchingly simple—lawn chairs against a bright color-blocked background of grass and sky—that simplicity belies layers of process, emotion, and narrative. Her paintings begin as a cut-up and reconstructed photograph; she then layers paint over the image, using her artistic license to minimize or emphasize as she chooses. As evidenced by Floral Shade, once her painting is complete, the work that remains mimics the rearranged mise-en-scene of our memories.
In her work, Giberson elevates the ordinary. She memorializes and even anthropomorphizes these seemingly mundane symbols of suburbia. In doing so, her paintings become more than stunning still lifes—they become portraits of the people one might imagine inhabiting them. As we approach the holidays that celebrate the parental figures in our lives, Floral Shade’s simple scene seems particularly pertinent. What better time of year to outfit your walls with a print like this? So pull up a chair and enjoy Leah Giberson’s Floral Shade.
With art for everyone,
Team 20x200
